Afghanistan, minute by minute: the Taliban crush those who oppose them

A crowd of Afghans in Kabul defy the Taliban by marching through the streets with the national flag of Afghanistan to celebrate the country’s independence from British colonial rule in 1919.

The Taliban intend to replace the black, red and green Afghan national flag with their own black and white flag.

Witness accounts and videos widely shared on social media Thursday show crowds marching through the capital with the national flag. In some cases, people had substituted the black and white flag of the Taliban for the Afghan tricolor.

A witness CNN spoke to said protesters in Kabul marched in front of Taliban fighters shouting “Long live Afghanistan.” Another witness told CNN that the Taliban had fired into the air to try to break up the procession. It is unclear if anyone was injured.

In the eastern city of Jalalabad, the country’s fifth-largest, another witness CNN spoke with said protesters marched in the streets for the second day in a row. According to the witness, they received a violent response from the Taliban.

The witness also said that Taliban fighters had fired on the crowd.

A video sent to CNN from Jalalabad showed protesters who had been injured, apparently by gunfire. The video showed protesters being transported to cars, draped in the Afghan national flag.

The Taliban have yet to comment on the incident.

Taliban patrol Kabul and sound sirens after marches

Large Taliban convoys have been deployed through the streets of Kabul after crowds were seen marching through the Afghan capital with the country’s national flag to celebrate Independence Day, a CNN team has found.

Armed militants guard a street in Afghanistan. (Photo: AREF KARIMI / AFP via Getty Images)

The convoys, made up of two or three trucks with at least 6 Taliban fighters each, were seen circling various areas of the city, sirens sounding.

Sporadic shots were also heard, at a more intense rate than in previous days.

In the early hours of Thursday, CNN reported that crowds had been seen marching through the streets of Kabul with the Afghan national flag, in defiance of the Taliban, who use a different flag.